By Will Vandervort.

Still not cleared to play after suffering from a concussion in the previous week’s win over NC State, Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware approached defensive coordinator Brent Venables on Tuesday and told his position coach not to give up on him.

“He had a tough day on Monday and he came to me and said, ‘I want you to believe in me.’ We had a great talk,” Venables said.

Venables did believe, and the sophomore responded with the best game of his career. Starting at weakside linebacker for Tony Steward, who was out with a hamstring injury, Boulware finished the afternoon with a team-high 10 tackles, including four tackles for a loss and a sack. One of those tackles came on a key fourth-and-one play in the fourth quarter, while another came on second down during the Tigers’ goal line stand at the end of the game which helped preserve No. 25 Clemson’s 23-17 victory over Louisville.

“I loved to see that for him,” Venables said. “It shows you the selfless attitude-guy that was ready for his opportunity.”

Boulware made the most of his opportunity, for sure. It seemed like every time a play needed to be made by the Clemson defense, which held Louisville to 266 total yards and just 3.9 yards per play, the young linebacker was right in the middle of the action.

“I wanted to go out there and prove to my team and prove to Clemson University and to Clemson Nation that I am able to play and that I can perform well,” Boulware said. “I think my time, and all the preparation I put in before this game, and all the hours we put in the film room, asking coaches questions, my notebook, it all paid off.

“To see that all that preparation paid off and having a good performance like that, it was good for me.”

It was good for the Tigers too as Clemson held Louisville (5-2, 3-2 ACC) to a season-low 52 yards rushing on 38 carries. That was a 1.4 yards per carry average.

“That was a Ben Boulware kind of game,” Venables said.

In the fourth quarter, it was Boulware’s game. On the crucial fourth-down drive, with Clemson (4-2, 3-1 ACC) clinging to a three-point lead, the linebacker tackled tight end Gerald Christian a yard shy of the first down, setting up a fourth-and-short play from the Clemson 44.

On fourth down, Boulware plowed through the A-gap like he had done for much of the afternoon and tackled running back Dominique Brown for no gain to turn the ball back over to Clemson.

At times it seemed as if Boulware was in the Louisville huddle and knew what play was coming.

“I felt like I played decent, but there were so many other players on our defense and on this team that played their butts off,” he said. “There were a lot of guys that played really well.”

Boulware and Brown met again on the Cardinals’ last drive and this time they met at the Clemson one-yard line. With the Tigers desperately trying to hold on to their six-point lead, the Cardinals tried to catch Clemson off guard on second-and-goal.

With no timeouts and the clock ticking below 40 seconds, quarterback Will Gardner called for a running play to Brown. Boulware met the 6-foot-2, 233-pound back right in the hole and held him to no gain. Gardner had to clock the ball after that and then on fourth-and-goal from the one, defensive tackle DeShawn Williams batted a Gardner pass down to end the threat and secure the Clemson win.

On a day when Clemson’s defense shined brighter than it ever has and with guys like Jayron Kearse, Garry Peters, Grady Jarrett and Williams all making plays, no one stood out more than Boulware.

“I can’t wait to watch it. It sounds good,” Venables said. “You are always worried about the next play or the next series and a lot of times you don’t get a chance to high five guys when they deserve it. You are always looking for weaknesses, ‘Oh yeah, we just sacked him, but so-and-so was open. Why didn’t you blitz or why didn’t you drop in to curl, man? They are going to find you next time.’

“That’s kind of what our mindset is all the time. But in regards to Ben he had a great week of prep. I mean a great week of prep. He was tugging on my shirt right after our last meeting and really in the locker room, ‘How about this situation and when they do this and this and this? What am I supposed to do?’ And then it shows. You play well. When you make that kind of investment on the front end, it is easy for them to put forth that type of effort and to spill their guts out.”